Flushing, N.Y. -
A tough season-opening loss befell the Adelphi University men's basketball team against Queens College on Friday night at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
A 79-72 defeat at the hands of the Knights (1-0) shed the curtain on the 2022-23 campaign for the Panthers (0-1) and this year's ECC/NE10 Challenge.
Both teams played an evenly-paced first half, with Queens taking a slight 36-35 advantage into the break.
Aristotelis Sotiriou scored 12 of his career-high 19 points in the opening twenty. The senior also collected six rebounds and two assists in the contest.
The second half portrayed a different story, in which the Knights came out of the locker room to an 11-1 run that put the hosts ahead by double digits.
Queens, which shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field in the second half, never looked back. While Adelphi made nearly half of its shots for the night, the hosts still expanded their lead to as many as 17 points with 10:35 to go.
The Panthers gave up 22 points on 11 turnovers, while only turning 11 turnovers into ten points.
Two others finished in double figures for Adelphi.
Ronnie Silva dropped 12 points in the second half for a 15-point night.
Mason Jackson's collegiate debut gave way to 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
The Brown and Gold will play tomorrow (Nov. 12) at 1:30 p.m. in Flushing, when they face Molloy University to wrap up their participation in the ECC/NE10 Challenge.
